Town Square

McNerney insists that federal health plan must benefit small business

Original post made
on Aug 26, 2009

Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) said Tuesday that any federal health care measure that he supports in the coming weeks will provide benefits to small businesses who are struggling to provide benefits for their employees.

Posted by Steve
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Aug 26, 2009 at 9:20 pm

A few questions:

1) When is Jerry McNerney going hold his town hall meeting?
2) Why did this man from Danville not have health insurance if he had half a million dollars in savings? I feel badly for him but cannot understand why someone with so much money did not choose to purchase health insurance before this happened. Second, if the treatments were not covered due to the fact they were cutting edge or very costly, what makes Jerry think they would be covered under a government run program?

So did anyone get a chance to ask Nurse McNerney (who obviously knows what is best for her constituents without their direct input) to explain her quote below?

"So what we need to do is find a way to introduce competition into that system, matching private enterprises with public programs to make sure we get the best possible performance out of our system"

Namely how on earth does a private sector business COMPETE with a GOVERNMENT program when the GOVT doesn't have to show a profit? If they go over budget, they'll just tax us more or print more money. Government also establishes regulatory requirements as well. The notion that we'll have more competition with a "public" plan is a typical Obama/Alinsky smokescreen and an abject lie.

Any private sector health provider will soon go out of business if it "competes" with government.

Nurse McNerney... you can start lowering healthcare costs by reforming TORT law! But that'll never happen because slip ' n' fall lawyers have paid democrats like you way too much. After reforming tort law, you can further increase competition by getting out of the way and let the private sector do its thing.

McNerney...it is people like YOU who are seriously damaging this country.

Oh...Nurse McNerney, Jeb does a pretty good job at spinning YOUR side (ie the Democrat view) of the story. In the headline, "...that federal health plan must benefit small business" SINCE WHEN have you been concerned with anything that BENEFITS SMALL BUSINESS?

You voted in favor of the largest tax increase upon citizens and small business in the history of the US...CAP AND TRADE! This bill will result in millions of additional job losses and business closures! You don't give a damn about job creation and anything that benefits small, medium, or large business!

The only entity you care about is the uber growth of government and government employees and the demise of the private sector. You and the rest of your dem comrades are terrific at spending other people's money. The only problem with that is you are killing the goose that lays the golden egg. At some point soon, there will be no more private sector for you to steal from.

Back to the marvelous dem health plan, I read today that all citizens' tax returns will be revealed to a bureaucratic health board for review. I envision that from this information, your dem comrades will be able to identify who voted democrat vs. the competition and anyone not voting democrat will have "certain" health services withheld because of one's voting record.

FedEx Express is learning what could be the Democrats' economic motto"Never Let Success Go Unpunished."

Led by Rep. James L. Oberstar, Minnesota Democrat, the House on May 21 passed legislation that contains an almost hidden provisiona mere 230 wordsthat would hobble FedEx Express. It would do so by completely changing the labor laws under which the company operates. Unless the Senate removes the language from the underlying bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, a mere dozen or so workers in just one city could hamstring much of the nation's overnight delivery service.

We Americans take for granted that things can "absolutely, positively ... be there overnight"but it took FedEx Express to make that so. FedEx Express is, of course, one of the great corporate success stories of modern times, having grown from a mere idea in a 1965 term paper by Yale University undergraduate Frederick W. Smith into a company essential to the workings of our modern economy.

It is a little-known fact that FedEx contracts with the U.S. Postal Service to carry almost all of its Express Mail and a large proportion of its Priority Mail. FedEx delivers huge amounts of needed supplies for American military forces, tooand its service is just about the only way to guarantee that some lifesaving medicines reach patients overnight.

[...]

The RLA does not, however, apply to non-rail, mostly ground-transportation companies such as the United Parcel Service. UPS instead is governed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the terms of which favor unions such as the Teamsters, which represents UPS drivers. Naturally, this means UPS and the Teamsters both have an interest in kneecapping FedEx Express. Together, the ground-delivery company and the union have executed what The Hill newspaper called a lobbying "pincer movement" to transfer authority over FedEx Express from the RLA to the NLRA.

[...]

UPS trying to squash FedEx Express is like Goliath sitting on David. Again using FedEx Express numbers, UPS has 425,000 employees in a business doing $49.7 billion in annual revenue, compared to FedEx Express' 143,000 employees and $22.7 billion in revenue. With UPS so much bigger than FedEx Express, it doesn't make sense to argue that "Big Brown" somehow suffers a competitive disadvantage. Indeed, the latest earnings estimate for UPS shows growth from $2.37 to $2.90 per share, while FedEx Corp. has shown a decline from $1.26 to $0.31.

With the economy as a whole so shaky, this is the worst time for Congress to change the rules governing such an important facet of interstate commerce. The old wisdom should apply still: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Obama's fascist takeover and his attack on the private sector continues…

Posted by Arroyo
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 27, 2009 at 8:16 am

I sent a letter expressing my concerns about the Health Care bill to Rep McNerney. I received a nice reply that made me feel that he agrees with many of my positions and a commitment that he could not support a bill that eroded private insurance coverage.

Unfortunately, I still feel that when Nancy Pelosi phones him and instructs him how to vote, that he will comply, regardless of his convictions......and the concerns of his constituents.

Posted by Stacey
a resident of Amberwood/Wood Meadows
on Aug 27, 2009 at 8:17 amStacey is a registered user.

Big Poppa,

Beth was not making any point regarding the USPS subsidy so your attempt to bring it into the argument is merely a red herring and does nothing to address Beth's assertion that private business will suffer if the government creates another subsidy. BTW, thanks for the name calling. It shows the true strength of your arguments.

Posted by Stacey
a resident of Amberwood/Wood Meadows
on Aug 27, 2009 at 8:21 amStacey is a registered user.

Beth wrote: "Namely how on earth does a private sector business COMPETE with a GOVERNMENT program"

From the article above that Beth posted: "FedEx Express is, of course, one of the great corporate success stories of modern times, having grown from a mere idea in a 1965 term paper by Yale University undergraduate Frederick W. Smith into a company essential to the workings of our modern economy." ... "FedEx Express' 143,000 employees and $22.7 billion in revenue"

Beth, if you're going to make such assertions about private sector business competing with a government program, at least use some data to back it up. You'll get much more respect from those with bankrupt leftist ideas.

Posted by Hype at the Vineyard
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 27, 2009 at 8:23 am

I attended McNerney's talk at the Chamber Luncheon. McNerney displayed his ignorance on a number of points, including putting forth the USPS as a federal program to be immulated. Also, the Chamber CEO and Chairwoman did a great job of filtering out some of the tough questions and passing on softballs to him. And last, but not least, Jeb Bing is a charter member of Left-Wing Loon Adoration Society, as his article shows. Thanks to the Pleasanton Chamber for hosting the event, but no thanks to them from orchestrating a McNerney hype session. The Congressmen is too chicken to have real town-hall meetings.

Posted by Stacey
a resident of Amberwood/Wood Meadows
on Aug 27, 2009 at 8:35 amStacey is a registered user.

suspicious and Big Poppa,

Just because I didn't bring up the waste and inefficiency of the USPS doesn't mean I don't recognize it. That "feature" of the USPS has nothing to do with Beth's argument that private business can't compete with a government program. The irony to me is that one would think that all that waste actually makes it harder for the USPS to compete with private business. Actually the USPS, being a monopoly, can engage in anti-competitive behavior. In light of that, it is amazing that such private companies can still thrive in contrast to Beth's assertion.

Posted by patricia
a resident of Vintage Hills Elementary School
on Aug 27, 2009 at 8:45 ampatricia is a registered user.

Stacey's point remains unrebutted:
Beth argues that a private sector business cannot compet with government program that need not show a profit. Yet the government funded and run postal service, which need not show a profit, has yet to put FedEx or UPS out of business. And medicare has not stopped many seniors from purchasing their own health insurance from private companies.

John clearly says he would prefer to stay with a private plan, and many others will also. At least the legislation now being considered would prevent his insurance from dumping him if they decide he might actually get sick enough that they have to pay back the premiums he or his company have been paying for years. So yes, John, you can keep your private health insurance, but you still have to pay your taxes. Kind of like you can buy books, but you still have to pay taxes to support the library. Or you can send your kid to a private school, but you still have to pay taxes to support public schools.

Finally, lose the talk about facism and socialism until you've read enough history to understand them. The minute you start painting little mustaches on people, you've lost my respect AND the whole argument.

I have been quite dismayed (saying it nicely) with the 'wonderful' Government run "Cash for Clunkers" program. Does anyone else feel as I do that it is not right to provide those that want a new car to get a subsidy from their fellow Americans via this program? This is not someone else's money as the government would lead you to believe.

It is MY money (and yours). My tax dollars going to help someone else buy a car. That's insane. No one has helped me buy a new roof for my house, or kitchen appliances, etc. I wrote Mr. McNerney (and our 2 Senators) about my concerns a long time ago  Still no response…not even the typical "canned" letter response.

These are not liberal vs. conservative arguments.

These are American arguments. People do need to take responsibility for themselves. Government needs to help with guidelines and standards and even fair regulation. Then, they need to get out of the way IMO.

Let's face it - Government does not know how to manage efficiently. Their track record in these areas is horrible

My patience with people who defend leftist policies and principles like Stacey...and you, Patricia, is very thin. America cannot be defeated from external forces if all America's might is unleashed effectively. America can only be defeated from WITHIN...and Obama is doing a terrific job at deliberately destroying this country. It is also people like McNerney, Stacey and you, Patricia...who are also destroying America from within.

Back to the FedEx situation...the reason why Obama has not completely snuffed FedEx out is that the federal govt DEPENDS on FedEx for a large part of government business because FedEx is MUCH MORE RELIABLE AND EFFICIENT than the USPS. Same goes for the precious healthcare for CONGRESS! They know that their private healthcare program is superior to any government-run healthcare program. McNerney voted to keep Congress's suoerior healthcare program vs. opting Congress to have the same quality as the lowly citizens.

I have been sitting quietly on the sidelines watching all of this national debate on healthcare. It is time for me to bring some clarity to the table by explaining many of the problems from the perspective of a doctor.
First off, the government has involved very few of us physicians in the healthcare debate. While the American Medical Association has come out in favor of the plan, it is vital to remember that the AMA only represents 17% of the American physician workforce.

I have taken care of Medicaid patients for 35 years while representing the only pediatric ophthalmology group left in Atlanta , Georgia that accepts Medicaid. For example, in the past 6 months I have cared for three young children on Medicaid who had corneal ulcers. This is a potentially blinding situation because if the cornea perforates from the infection, almost surely blindness will occur. In all three cases the antibiotic needed for the eradication of the infection was not on the approved Medicaid list.

Each time I was told to fax Medicaid for the approval forms, which I did. Within 48 hours the form came back to me which was sent in immediately via fax, and I was told that I would have my answer in 10 days. Of course by then each child would have been blind in the eye.

Each time the request came back denied. All three times I personally provided the antibiotic for each patient which was not on the Medicaid approved list. Get the point -- rationing of care.

Over the past 35 years I have cared for over 1000 children born with congenital cataracts. In older children and in adults the vision is rehabilitated with an intraocular lens. In newborns we use contact lenses which are very expensive. It takes Medicaid over one year to approve a contact lens post cataract surgery. By that time a successful anatomical operation is wasted as the child will be close to blind from a lack of focusing for so long a period of time.

Again, extreme rationing. Solution: I have a foundation here in Atlanta supported 100% by private funds which supplies all of these contact lenses for my Medicaid and illegal immigrants children for free. Again, waiting for the government would be disastrous.

Last week I had a lady bring her child to me. They are Americans but live in Sweden , as the father has a job with a big corporation. The child had the onset of double vision 3 months ago and has been unable to function normally because of this. They are people of means but are waiting 8 months to see the ophthalmologist in Sweden. Then if the child needed surgery they would be put on a 6 month waiting list. She called me and I saw her that day. It turned out that the child had accommodative esotropia (crossing of the eyes treated with glasses that correct for farsightedness) and responded to glasses within 4 days, so no surgery was needed. Again, rationing of care.

Last month I operated on a 70 year old lady with double vision present for 3 years. She responded quite nicely to her surgery and now is symptom free. I also operated on a 69 year old judge with vertical double vision. His surgery went very well and now he is happy as a lark. I have been told -- but of course there is no healthcare bill that has been passed yet -- that these 2 people because of their age would have been denied surgery and just told to wear a patch over one eye to alleviate the symptoms of double vision. Obviously cheaper than surgery.

I spent two year in the US Navy during the Viet Nam war and was well treated by the military. There was tremendous rationing of care and we were told specifically what things the military personnel and their dependents could have and which things they could not have. While I was in Viet Nam , my wife Nancy got sick and got essentially no care at the Naval Hospital in Oakland , California. She went home
and went to her family's private internist in Beverly Hills. While it was expensive, she received an immediate work up. Again rationing of care.
For those of you who are over 65, this bill in its present form might be lethal for you. People in England over 59 cannot receive stents for their coronary arteries. The government wants to mimic the British plan. For those of you younger, it will still mean restriction of the care that you and your children receive.
While 99% of physicians went into medicine because of the love of medicine and the challenge of helping our fellow man, economics are still important. My rent goes up 2% each year and the salaries of my employees go up 2% each year. Twenty years ago, ophthalmologists were paid $1800 for a
cataract surgery and today $500. This is a 73% decrease in our fees. I do not know of many jobs in America that have seen this sort of lowering of fees.

But there is more to the story than just the lower fees. When I came to Atlanta , there was a well known ophthalmologist that charged $2500 for a cataract surgery as he felt the was the best. He had a terrific reputation and in fact I had my mother's bilateral cataracts operated on by him with a wonderful result. She is now 94 and has 20/20 vision in both eyes. People would pay his $2500 fee.

However, then the government came in and said that any doctor that does Medicare work cannot accept more than the going rate ( now $500) or he or she would be severely fined. This put an end to his
charging $2500. The government said it was illegal to accept more than the government-allowed rate. What I am driving at is that those of you well off will not be able to go to the head of the line under this new healthcare plan, just because you have money, as no physician will be willing to go against the law to treat you.
I am a pediatric ophthalmologist and trained for 10 years post- college to become a pediatric ophthalmologist (add two years of my service in the Navy and that comes to 12 years).A neurosurgeon spends 14 years post -college, and if he or she has to do the military that would be 16 years. I am not entitled to make what a neurosurgeon makes, but the new plan calls for all physicians to make the same amount of payment. I assure you that medical students will not go into neurosurgery and we will have a tremendous shortage of neurosurgeons. Already, the top neurosurgeon at my hospital who is in good health and only 52 years old has just quit because he can't stand working with the government anymore. Forty-nine percent of children under the age of 16 in the state of Georgia are on Medicaid, so he felt he just could not stand working with the bureaucracy anymore.

We are being lied to about the uninsured. They are getting care. I operate at least 2 illegal immigrants each month who pay me nothing, and the children's hospital at which I operate charges them nothing
also. This is true not only on Atlanta, but of every community in America. The bottom line is that I urge all of you to contact your congresswomen and congressmen and senators to defeat this bill. I promise you that you will not like rationing of your own health.

Furthermore, how can you trust a physician that works under these conditions knowing that he is controlled by the state. I certainly could not trust any doctor that would work under these draconian conditions.

One last thing: with this new healthcare plan there will be a tremendous shortage of physicians. It has been estimated that approximately 5% of the current physician work force will quit under this new system. Also it is estimated that another 5% shortage will occur because of the decreased number of men and women wanting to go into medicine. At the present time the US government has mandated gender equity in admissions to medical schools .That means that for the past 15 years that somewhere between 49 and 51% of each entering class are females. This is true of private schools also, because all private schools receive federal funding.

The average career of a woman in medicine now is only 8-10 years and the average work week for a female in medicine is only 3-4 days. I have now trained 35 fellows in pediatric ophthalmology. Hands down the best was a female that I trained 4 years ago -- she was head and heels above all others I have trained. She now practices only 3 days a week.

He has zero power in Congress. Nancy allows him to say things like this to pacify his moderately conservative district. His opinions SO do not matter in DC.. ........just trying to pacify the gullible here.
A nice guy, but his empty suit does not fill his seat in congress.

Carolyn...I wish that were true. However McNerney now sits on the powerful "Energy and Commerce Committee" which voted to pass the Obamacare bill just prior to the August recess. This bill now sits in the Senate because of McNerney's assistance.

Posted by Be thankful
a resident of Birdland
on Aug 27, 2009 at 10:31 am

Gee No Thanks how does one set "guidelines and standards and even fair regulation" and then "get out of the way?"
How do you regulate something by ignoring it?
The previous administration had "regulations" for any number of things to protect consumers, but gutted the staff (getting out of the way) to enforce them. Under his watch we saw unsafe children's toys, tainted food, water, air and ground pollution and the collapse of our economy.

How do you suppose we as "individuals" will handle the "responsibility" of a predicted outbreak of a fall H1N1 flu epidemic without the government stepping in to see to enough flu vaccine and viral treatments, vaccination clinics, and support for local hospitals in the event they were inundated and unable to care for large numbers of sick citizens? Not many individuals can provide these things for themselves no matter how self reliant they are. Like it or not the government serves a function.

BTW I am a nurse who spends most of my day caring for older folks who have their care covered by medicare. If these folks had to pay for their own CT scans, surgery, chemotherapy and colonscopies they wouldn't be alive. Period. They couldn't afford it.
You want to tell grandma there's no more medicare?

Perhaps the reason FedEx/UPS can compete with the USPS is because they are more trust worthy to deliver, on time, important packages/documents. The USPS does a respectable job of delivering our personal letters, bills, magazines and, in my opinion, that's it...

If you have had the pleasure of dealing with the USPS concerning a lost package/registered letter, you just may understand what I'm attempting to say...

Posted by Ken in South Pleasanton
a resident of Downtown
on Aug 27, 2009 at 10:39 am

You simply cannot compete against a government-funded public program. You, as a private business, will go broke trying to compete against a public program whose funding comes from the ability to spend taxpayer money. Think about public utilities. When their profits begin to drop for whatever reason they go begging to the PUC who inevitably approves rate increases. In the bay area, what are your real choices if you don't like the service provided by PG&E? You can't even light a fire in your fireplace without having some bureaucrat report you for polluting the air!

The current bill (HR3200) has so many things in it that don't directly relate to health care and only add cost and limit our freedom. The latest one to drive me up the wall is the section that authorizes (requires) the IRS to report taxpayer information to the new health care bureaucracy to allow the bureaucracy to determine our eligibility for health care benefits. If this type of intrusion into personal information had been introduced during the Bush administration the press and liberals would have gone over the edge complaining about privacy and intrusion into personal lives.

The health care reform bill is bad legislation and will place our country further into debt at a time when we can ill afford it.

Posted by Ken in South Pleasanton
a resident of Downtown
on Aug 27, 2009 at 10:46 am

Reply to Be Thankful,
Isn't Obama proposing to cut back on Medicare payments as a way of paying for the "new" healthcare? The very people you are caring for, the "older folks", are the very people who will be left behind in favor of the health of the younger generation (paraphrasing advice given to Obama by his health care advisor, Rom Emmanuel's brother). I don't want to tell grandma that there is no more healthcare, especially after she has worked all her life and paid taxes into a system that was initially designed to give her peace of mind in her old age. HR3200 will increase grandma's hypertension, then deny her the drugs to control it. No thanks to HR3200 and any other program that gives the federal government the ability to intrude on my freedom of choice.

Posted by Stacey
a resident of Amberwood/Wood Meadows
on Aug 27, 2009 at 10:48 amStacey is a registered user.

Ken wrote: "You, as a private business, will go broke trying to compete against a public program whose funding comes from the ability to spend taxpayer money."

I disagree with that. The source of anti-competitiveness isn't because a public program is funded by public money, but because public programs are usually monopolies. The government is a monopoly. Incidentally, public money funds private companies too. Think bailouts and subsidies.

Posted by art lover
a resident of Birdland
on Aug 27, 2009 at 10:51 am

"Under his watch we saw unsafe children's toys, tainted food, water, air and ground pollution and the collapse of our economy."

Pluuuleeeze! The House and Senate had NOTHING to do that whole time? It's this kind of ludicrous comment that undermines any sane debate. Why do you make such absolute statements?

Yes, of course the government has an important role to play- but it's lack of oversight definitely got us into this housing, financial markets, etc. mess. So, that's why many of us are very worried to have healthcare run by the government. We need a special hybrid healthcare - that concept I do agree with McNerney, BUT not a system that copies any Euorpean system. Since he, however, already voted for a bill (that I pray HE actually READ!) I don't get why he is back peddlling in front of the Chamber!

Posted by Ken in South Pleasanton
a resident of Downtown
on Aug 27, 2009 at 11:22 am

Thanks for making my point Stacey. Public monies (our tax dollars) bailed out AIG and General Motors, both of which are running just fine now that the government has their hands in the day to day operations. The government is a monopoly and has the power and deep pockets (unlimited ability to tax us) to drive private business into failure. Private businesses will compete as they have done in the past by lowering costs - most easily accomplished by chopping the workforce and creating fewer jobs. Those jobs might be picked up by the government-run programs, adding to the size of our government bureaucracy and requiring more tax dollars to keep running. Vicious cycle that doesn't help anyone, especially those who have to pay for it in the future.

Posted by Laughing at the Hypocrisy of it
a resident of Vineyard Avenue
on Aug 27, 2009 at 11:34 am

I always get a hoot out of my father-in-law especially now with the healthcare debate running so hot. He's an 83 year old Fox News addict and hypochondriac.
My husband and I can't help but smile when he starts in on Obama's "socialist" plan to help cover the uninsured. He's outraged that "those" people can't pay for insurance themselves.

This man who tows the Fox party anti union line accepted his "free" (never paid a penny into it)retirement healthcare from a school district union and in addition to Medicare uses it to visit at least three doctors a week for "tune-ups." He pops handfuls of pills a day and never misses a yearly cat scan and colonoscopy (he ruputered a diverticulum 10 years ago but has been fine since). He also uses a Medicare subsidized (free!) motorized scooter to get around after breaking his hip despite the fact he can walk with a walker.
What he paid into the Social Security system in the last 10 years of his working life could not possibly have paid for his entire stay at the rehab hospital. He could never afford all this care if HE had to pay for it himself.

When my husband was laid off from his high tech job a few years ago and we started our own business we were turned down for a Blue Cross individual policy because my husband had a backache and my daughter and I had asthma (for which we were never hospitalized and used 1 inhaler each). We have been continuing to pay an outrageous sum for a COBRA continuation policy with extremely high deductibles and neither one us will consider a colonoscopy any time soon.

From our point of view socialism doesn't look so bad when you are the happy recipient.

Posted by Sheerluck_Holmes
a resident of Jensen Tract
on Aug 27, 2009 at 11:37 am

FedEx has some distinct advantages over USPS. They don't have to deliver letters at a loss to remote corners of Alaska. Very much like private health insurance companies. They don't have to cover people with pre-existing conditions who would even remotely need their services. So insure the ones least likey to use medical services and dump the un-healthy ones on emergency rooms.

As a thought experiment kill medicare tomorrow and see how many of the elderly would be picked up by private insurers.

Posted by Be thankful
a resident of Birdland
on Aug 27, 2009 at 11:59 am

Art lover,
GWB did in fact appoint a number of unqualified cronies to positions of importance at a number of governmental agencies during his tenure. FEMA's Heckofa good job Brownie for one. EPA for another.
15 inspectors in the consumer protection agency looking at all the goods coming out China.
The public agencies were there but there was no "regulation" going on at all.
Ken, we come from back east where private schools compete very nicely. The Groton School, Phillips Exeter Acadamy, St. Pauls, Choate have been going at it for years and doing fine. As far as I know they still have public school in New England. People have "options."

Posted by Roberta
a resident of Pleasanton Heights
on Aug 27, 2009 at 12:00 pm

To Laughing at Hypocrisy: Grandpa is lucky he has an outside policy that allows annual colonoscopy & cat scan. I'm Kaiser's HMO plan. They work out a special deal with Medicare...but they also cut corners. At 68 I have NEVER been allowed a colonoscopy....NO family history of problem so I am NOT ALLOWED....being with Kaiser, I'm not allowed to go any place else for the test, unless I leave Kaiser. Cat scan...I have such a joint problem, but not allowed. I would LOVE the right to shop around for care.
A gov't plan would involve a 'check list' of allowables.

Posted by ROSEMARIE
a resident of Pleasanton Valley
on Aug 27, 2009 at 12:01 pm

If OBAMACARE PASSES, EVERY SENIOR WILL LOSE KAISER ADVANTAGE CARE, I GUESS BECAUSE WE PAY TAXES ONLY ILLEGALS SHOULD BE HELPED. OUR CONGRESSMAN SHOULD VOTE NO, BUT I BET HE OWES HIS ELECTION TO THE GOVERMENT DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND WILL VOTE YES. WHERE IS HIS TOWN MEETING, TO SCARED TO HAVE ONE?

Posted by patricia
a resident of Vintage Hills Elementary School
on Aug 27, 2009 at 12:11 pmpatricia is a registered user.

Beth,
Question the wisdom of my opinions all you like, but please don't question my patriotism by saying that I am intentionally trying to promote policies that I know will destroy the country that my family has loved and served for generations. I may think you are wrong -- and I do -- but I don't think you are intentionally set on bankrupting our country to line the pockets of insurance companies or that you harbor a secret desire to kill poor people by denying them decent, affordable medical care.

Just like I disagreed with Bush on a lot of things, but I never called him a fascist or a traitor. And, while some leftists did make pictures of him with little Hitler mustaches (which I thought was stupid and inappropriate), they sure weren't showing up outside his rallies with guns strapped to their waists. But when I disagreed with one president because I think his actions and policies were threatening the constitution, I was called a traitor and told it was disloyal to disagree with a president -- that my side lost the election so the time for debate was over. And when I agree with another president, who won the election, I'm called a traitor again. Sheesh.

Bottom line: I don't accuse you of being evil or trying to destroy the country deliberately, just of being wrong. I'd appreciate the same from you.

Posted by Stacey
a resident of Amberwood/Wood Meadows
on Aug 27, 2009 at 12:26 pmStacey is a registered user.

Ken,

I'm not entirely sure how I proved your point. AIG didn't fail because they were being run by government or because they were competing with government. Those companies drove themselves into insolvency.

Posted by huh?
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 27, 2009 at 2:38 pm

Posted by Laughing at the Hypocrisy of it, a resident of the Vineyard Avenue neighborhood, 2 hours ago

"This man who tows the Fox party anti union line accepted his "free" (never paid a penny into it)retirement healthcare from a school district union and in addition to Medicare uses it to visit at least three doctors a week for "tune-ups."

Sounds to me that he worked hs whole life and may have worked at a school district where his contract with them provided for medical care in retirement?

Someone mentioned they had a relative that uses "retirement health care from a school district union" even though he "never payed a penny into it"...

If this was part of his union negotiated benefits, he did actually pay into the plan. This would be considered part of his compensation in lieu of "currency". Then again, his union could have possibly had a group plan that covered its members which was paid through union dues...

I can't believe someone has a medical plan that is "free". Some where down the line the plan member has paid, one way or the other...

Posted by Still chuckling
a resident of Birdland
on Aug 27, 2009 at 5:36 pm

My father-in-law recieves benefits negotiated by his wife's former union. She worked until 55, retired, and recieved health insurance (as well as a pension) for life through the school district. She never paid specifically for health insruance at the time she worked as many do now so often these days, it was included in her benefits. She is now 87 and has been retired almost longer than she worked.
He was a self-employed home builder with no insurance coverage.

My point was that it's pretty humerous when he rages and rails against unions and the "socialist" idea of government funding health care. If it weren't for those two organizations, he certainly wouldn't have made it this far.

Posted by D W
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Aug 27, 2009 at 11:09 pm

These Chamber meetings weren't designed to screen biased questions from unbiased questions; they were designed to debate the issue in the most professional manner. There were enough Chamber members that disagreed with McNerney's views and asked the same questions plus expressed the same views that are here on this blog. Only they did it with respect and no irrationally slanted emotion from either side of the ledger. Any blogger that continues to scream their protests are too chicken to just grab a phone and call the Congressman's office. Believe it or not, voted for the 09 Congress or not, we are encouraged to seek one-on-one talks with our respective members. We are encouraged to take the initiative and go right to their office and not scream so lazily.

No large private insurer will ever go bankrupt, thanks to the billions in subsidies they receive from the government, many of which help insure all of you. Private and public already work together and neither have stellar records in trustworthiness in general. Two companies dominate Maine's health care. And if most private insurers are in such financial danger, then how come United Health has been buying up people just to shout out at town halls and say nothing? They have money up the wazoo and are among a handful who continue to give health insurers a bad name, including those here in town and the high numbers in the Midwest and Plains who serve their people professionally without screaming or being pressured by Fox News, Air Radio, health unions nationwide, or fatmouthed pundits.

It doesn't say much about any person who believes or prefers to believe these slanted networks and pundits and their all-talk-no-action screamfests more than even their favorite health providers or politicians. Sadly, there are too many people who get snookered by the slanted media and other zealoted websites because it's so 'entertaining'. I find it more fun to seek common ground and solve problems than to see a lot of the pathetic grovel above.

Still, there are two other reasons why I'm on this blog, one of which is in response to a grossly inaccurate and deeply insulting remark about the founder of this Weekly. First, the Congressman's right about our currently bleak traffic predicament. We NEED A FREMONT FLYOVER! We are extremely lucky that the dangerous merges on the west side of 580-680 haven't produced more nasty accidents, knock on wood.

But the second reason hits a nerve, thanks to a grossly misinformed blogger named Hype. If Jeb Bing - the man who made the Weekly and this blog page possible - is so Left Wing Loon, then why do dozens of Pleasanton conservatives continually socialize with him, respect him, befriend him, and even work for him? You might want to ask respected Tri-Valley conservatives like Herald columnist Tim Hunt, for example, how much he respects Bing's work for the Pleasanton community, regardless if they agree or disagree more? You'd be surprised at how many mutual friends Bing & Hunt actually share, some of whom just may be working at the Weekly and even watching out for inappropriate blogs.

To the bloggers who are simply trying to figure out the most complicated personal, professional, and political issue in our city, county, state, and country's history but in a more respectful manner, thank you for continuing the debate and looking for solutions, not the loud radio pundit soundbites. It is appreciated by the readers and other bloggers who have more perspective at the tip of their fingers than those who prefer pundits, leftists, & Fox News do in their entire bodies. It is also appreciated by all political leaders from the Mayor to the Supervisor to the Governor and yes, especially to the President.

Posted by Steve
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Aug 29, 2009 at 8:49 am

Fox News bashing is hilarious. Usually the people who do this are mad that people have an opportunity to hear something different than ABC/NBC/CBS/CNN/AP/NYT which are all left-leaning organizations. Yes the commentators on Fox tend to be more conservative. However, if you ever watch Hannity or O'Reilly you see that they always have representation from both sides. For example, I've seen Rev. Al Sharpton on O'Reilly a number of times. There was a recent study that showed that Fox News viewers tend to be much more informed than average TV news viewers about domestic politics.

I'm not saying you have to agree with Fox News, however don't let the fact that you feel threatened by conservative voices to say that their News is all a bunch of lies.

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